


The Generosity of a Dragon

by dandelionknight



Series: Pearlmethyst week 2018 [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: A bit silly, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/F, First Meetings, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 01:42:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16588343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dandelionknight/pseuds/dandelionknight
Summary: A knight must face down a mighty dragon – but all isn’t what it seems.





	The Generosity of a Dragon

The tavern was filled with the sounds of revelry and song despite it still being the afternoon. The knight didn’t judge the idleness of the patrons too harshly; the people had good reason for turning to distraction. The wards that stood for generations had activated and shattered one by one like no more than prestigious glass. There was a great and terrible evil spreading through the seaside kingdom and no one knew its face. 

Someone had to do something soon. Someone had to do something soon, everyone thought but few did anything. The royal seer had tracked the source to the southern section of the kingdom and the knight, paladin of the Lady of Roses and champion of the crown prince, took it upon herself to find the cause of this corruption of order. She would accept nothing less than success.

The land was changing, twisting out of shape into something almost familiar, but made strange. It began with inanimate objects. Citizens of the kingdom found themselves without cutlery or dishes; they rolled and tumbled away from their places within cupboards and through the streets away from their owners. Whatever dark purposes compelled their housewares was unclear but, for the purposes of safety, many rationalized a liquid supper.

Then, the animals had begun to change. Cattle gained the teeth of canines and their behaviour as well, becoming the terror of the countryside as they roved in packs, baying and leaping at the moon and hunting out the farmers in their fields of labyrinthian wheat. Cats ran into rivers and the fish themselves took to sky like sopping, skinned birds wriggling their way through the currents of the air. Dogs rose up on their hind legs and spoke; posing philosophical quandaries to their masters.

“What truly makes a good boy good? Are we only considered good because of the subjective views of others?” the dogs asked as the hound master ran shrieking through the palace. The sound of their claws clicking on the flagstones to their newfound bipedal gait made the knight shudder.

It was a fact the knight sought success but success, it seemed, was less willing to meet her. 

She found herself sitting idle amongst the chaos of the tavern in negotiations with a sage…of sorts. She simply wanted information but he took her for a captive audience. His spectacles slid down his nose as he gestured wildly to some point he was making. She watched their inevitable migration with an apathetic sort of curiosity. 

“I’m telling you it’s not a chromatic or even a metallic dragon we’re dealing with! It’s an honest to goodness crystal dragon!” He swung his arms wide, narrowly missing the point of the knight’s sharp nose. 

“Mhhmm,” she made a noise of placation. “It would be quite the event for a crystal dragon to be found he-“ 

“Indeed! And with powers like no one could ever see and live to tell the tale! Its magic potential could rival the gods themselves!” the man all but bellowed. “The corruption we’re facing is almost certainly the work of one. How exciting!” 

The paladin had suspicions to the contrary. Dragons were unusual and reclusive beings, with their own society away from mortal folk. Why would one bother with their peaceful kingdom? She couldn’t find a motive, or a purpose to the afflictions. Her own abilities and the diviner’s Sight told her that their enemy was near, but her head told her it wasn’t a dragon. No, the paladin believed that wasn’t it at all. 

If she had to guess, she would think it was the Woman in White; her vengeful curse still affected pockets of the land even after so many years. Perhaps one of her spells had been reactivated somehow?  
But that still didn’t make sense. The Woman’s revenge was much… harsher than whatever was wrong now. The lack of clear answers eroded her patience. 

“- And that’s why I’ve decided to compile all of my theories into a tome that can be shared throughout the ages!” 

“Delightful,” the knight deadpanned. 

“Isn’t it?” 

She got to the point before he could return to his spiel; she was now quite aware of his theories on the matter at hand. 

“Do you still have the map of the area you mentioned? It would be of the utmost assistance if you could lend me it.”

The sage rummaged around in his satchel before producing a dog-eared folded scrap. 

“Of course! It’s my own annotated copy, you know!”

The knight eyed the pitiful item lying in the space between them.

“Thank you,” she said, taking the map and rising from the table. “I’ll tell the court of your assistance in this matter.”

The man beamed at her. At least his desire to help seemed genuine enough. 

The knight made her way out of the crowded building and into the sunshine. She unfolded the well-used map and tried to decipher the notes the sage had written on it while she walked to rejoin her mount. It would do, even if she couldn’t quite figure out what some of the acronyms stood for. 

A large, pink lion lay on his side in the shade of a lonesome tree at the side of the dirt road. 

“Hello again, Lion.” 

He watched her with distinct feline impassivity. 

“I got the map we needed; now it’s up to you to get us there.” She held out the paper. Lion stretched and yawned, sniffed the map, then batted it out of her hands and onto the grass, trapping it under his chin as he lay back down. 

“Lion, please,” the knight struggled with beast, trying to pry the map back with both gauntleted hands. “We need to go! Now is not the time for a nap.”

Lion begged to differ. 

Throwing her hands up in the air, the paladin imitated the young prince. “Oh, this could be dangerous! Take Lion with you! He can help.”

Like a fool the knight had listened. She loved her charge fiercely, like he was her own son, but sometimes she wished she could deny him a little more easily. The beast had a mind of his own, and rarely listened to anyone but the prince himself. That is, without bribery. 

She pulled a wax paper bag out of her pack and turned away. 

“Well, if the lion is asleep I guess I’m all alone and free to, uhh, eat all these celestial lizards by myself.” She shook the bag theatrically. 

In an instant, the lion was on his feet and the knight swapped the map for a dried lizard. The lizards were disgusting in truth but Lion loved them and if a thing works… 

“There’ll be another if you take us where we need to go.” 

He shook himself then lowered his head for the knight to climb on.

“You had a good look at the map?”

Lion, naturally, didn’t reply. She wasn’t sure why she bothered. 

She made sure she had a good grip on Lion’s mane. From previous experience, she knew he moved terribly, horribly fast. 

The knight yelped as the lion leaped into a run, chasing the sun as it gradually sunk in the sky behind the looming mountains. She watched the scenery go by; great fields ready for harvest, the distant homes of the people she’d sworn to protect. Gradually, farmland turned to wildness; by late evening they had long since left the roads of the interior kingdom behind. The terrain got more difficult; Lion slowed in the thick underbrush. The knight dismounted; it would be safer for the both of them as it got harder to maneuver. 

The paladin was increasingly aware that they had left the heart of the kingdom – home – behind. The trees here grew taller and while they had heard tale of the woodcutter’s axe, they stood proud. She could hear them whispering; a herald of their arrival. 

As for other living things, they were oddly silent save for the crunch of twigs and the sounds from her armor as they made their way deeper into the forest; this was not the domesticated Royal Woods near the castle. The land had always been more alive here than elsewhere. There was no telling how the current disorder would affect it. She kept herself alert and she sought the pommel of her sword. Lion’s ears pricked and twitched as they walked and she put a hand on the beast’s side to comfort them both. 

She checked the map in the last vestiges of daylight through the trees. There was a hunter’s cabin close by if it was to be trusted. A few words precisely spoken and the insignia on her shield cast a warm glow over the trunks of the trees. The promise of rest and relative safety spurred her on for another two hours until she finally found what she was looking for.

The cabin was dilapidated, nearly reclaimed by the woods it was built from but it still had four walls, most of a roof and a door; all she could ask for at the moment. None of it surprised her; the moss that spread over the rough-hewn walls, the creak of the old, oak door or the smell of mildew within. She stepped over the threshold and Lion followed close behind.

What did surprise her was everything else; the fire nestled in the hearth crackled merrily – had there even been a chimney from the outside? The floor was made of cedar planks, not the bare earth she was expecting and it was fully furnished with modest but functional furniture. And most peculiar of all was the food – that there was anything there at all. The table was piled high; a veritable feast with no diners. 

What sorcery was this? Her eyes darted left and right but she could see no obvious threat within the single room. 

“Excuse me? Hello? I apologize for intruding but I require shelter. Would it be acceptable for me to stay the night?” the knight asked.

There was no reply. 

Going back out meant becoming hopelessly lost in the dark, she knew, but everything about this unnerved her. She knew how to protect, how to fight and to serve. Her skills with the blade had no merit here. Was it a trap? 

Obviously, she wouldn’t touch the food, but what else could there be. She examined the walls, the furniture and even the bedding. No hidden blades or traps. Everything was disturbingly normal. 

Lion, for his part, simply watched her. 

“Well, what do you think then?”

He rumbled low in his throat and continued to stare.

It took a moment for her to remember. “Oh, so you do listen to what I say, do you?”

He blinked slowly.

She fished the bag out of her pack and gave him his reward. Lion was closer to magic as a substance than she was; surely if something was amiss he would know. Still, she waited for something, anything to happen. Lion finished his snack and took the bed, asleep within minutes. 

She sat with her back to Lion, trying to keep watch on as many corners of the room as possible. Time passed in fits and starts. One moment she had her eyes locked on the door and the next she found herself staring into the fire. It hadn’t burned out. She looked harder into the flames. There was nothing left but ashes to fuel it. The knight tore her gaze away and tried her best not to think.

She found herself staring at the ceiling the next moment. If she let her vision blur, she could see the stars in the heavens above unobstructed by the roof and surrounding foliage. The four constellations of the Diamonds were visible; the Lady of Roses, the Woman in White, the Mother of Sorrows and the Empress in Moonlight. Never before had she seen their stars in the same sky. It was the time of the Mother; no others should be there but they were in undeniable starlight. It was both beautiful and wrong. 

Her head rested in the crook of her elbow. She examined the table scant inches from her face. The grain of the tabletop shifted and swirled to her tired eyes. Is this how the seer feels when she searches the rivers of possibility? And why she needs an anchor lest she lose herself in the currents. The paladin felt herself slipping, drowning in it all. 

She opened her eyes. 

Light streamed in through the frosted window and the knight tried in vain to stretch the kinks out of her neck. At least she hadn’t slept in her helmet. The scent of ginger and cinnamon woke her further. She went to push herself away from the table but it yielded under her grip and her hands sunk into the wood. She let out a cry and tried to scramble away but her foot caught in the rung of the chair and she fell sideways onto the floor. 

Cinnamon bark powdered underneath her as she got to her feet. In a daze, she rushed about the room for a second inspection.

The fire was orange and yellow sugar-glass, the table was made of chocolate, the chairs of sturdy peppermint sticks. And the walls, the walls were made of gingerbread. 

Lion seemed unharmed and that she counted as a blessing. But the beast would not awaken no matter how much she prodded him. She had to get out of this accursed place.  
But before she could, the doorknob turned and the knight’s heart leapt into her throat. Whatever sorcerer had done this was here, was ready to curse her with the same capricious mad magic that they had cast upon the kingdom. 

She drew her sword. If she were to be… changed here, she would leave the mage with something permanent to remember her by. 

There was a snap, and half the doorknob fell away and rolled to her feet. She steeled herself as the door creaked open once more. The sorcerer stood in the doorway, crunching on something in her right hand. The knight could do nothing but stare. 

“Oh dang, I’m sorry, were you gonna eat this?” The sorcerer held out the doorknob. A bite was missing. “It’s the best part of any house; nougat.” 

The knight just stood, sword still drawn but now lowered. The interloper was shorter than she, in a tunic emblazoned with the patterns of the stars. A strange, violet jewel was just visible at the bottom of the neckline. Her hair flowed over her shoulders and, although it was white, was unlikely to be an indicator of age. Most striking of all was the vibrant purple of the stranger’s skin. 

Was she celestial then? Or perhaps fiend? 

“Not much of a talker are you?” With a crack not unlike that of bone, the mage broke off part of the doorframe and ate it. “Mmmm that’s good. Are you sure you don’t want that?” She pointed to the remainder of the doorknob near the knight’s feet. 

She shook her head.

“Thanks man!” 

Just who was this person? 

As if reading her thoughts, the stranger wiped her hand on her trousers and stuck it out. “I’m Amethyst. Sorry if you don’t have a sweet tooth but you didn’t seem to like dinner either.” She shrugged and then smiled. “Figured I’d try it.”

So this Amethyst was behind this curious change into confection and probably the other troubles as well. She very cautiously took the mage’s hand and shook it; angering a sorcerer could possibly have dire consequences. 

“Pearl. I thank you for your hospitality.” 

Amethyst’s grin grew wider still. “Aww, you like it? I was worried whether or not you’d like dark or milk chocolate.” She rapped her knuckles on the table. “It’s soooo hard trying to figure out what your neighbours are gonna like, ya know? I even did a little reading on human culture.”

The knight blinked. Neighbours? _Human culture_? She all but collapsed into one of the peppermint chair, sword clattering to the ground.

“Hey, are you alright? You’ve got a funny look on your face.”

All of this was a _gift_? Families were going hungry – the only eggs for weeks were golden. The economy had been turning on its head. She’d thrown herself into searching for a source, an evil, an enemy, and the perpetrator was offering her candy. It was all a little too much. The knight laughed in desperate gasps. 

“Woah, easy there, Pearl. Uh, deep breaths?” The sorcerer or whatever she was tried to console her. 

“Just…what reading have you done on human culture?”

A book materialized in the mage’s hands. The paladin recognized the cover; it was the same collection of stories she read to the prince as a child.

“It was really the only book on humans we had.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose, “And who exactly are ‘we’?”

“Me and the rest of the family – we’re quartz dragons, see?” Amethyst pulled her tunic down a little to reveal more of the purple jewel. 

The knight took it in for a moment.

“I believed dragons were more…?”

“Big, scaly and fiery? Sure, but it makes it hard to meet new people looking like that. I could if you wanted though.”

“No, please don’t.” 

She gave a silent prayer to the Lady for guidance. It was all a misunderstanding but she didn’t wish to offend the dragon. She never considered herself fit for the role of ambassador. 

“How long will these gifts last?” she asked, her voice turning dangerously high. 

“As long as you want them to!”

“I think that you have been generous enough. We won’t be able to repay you otherwise!”

“Oh, don’t worry about it! I could keep this up forever!” the dragon waved a hand dismissively.

“No! I mean – I insist! Please, anything less would be dishonourable,” she said in a rush. “Tell me what I can do to repay you. Please.”

The dragon looked at cinnamon floor and kicked at some of the powdered spice, as if suddenly shy. “Well, you are the first human I’ve actually met and I was hoping to ask if you’d want to hang out, you know? I’ve never met a real knight – like in the book.” 

The knight smiled for the first time in weeks, “And I’ve never met a dragon.”

**Author's Note:**

> Day one of Pearlmethyst week - the prompt was Fairy Tale. This is super late and I'm super sleepy but life has a way of interrupting, doesn't it? Still, this was fun to write c: Thanks for reading!


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